


Iced Tea At The Start Of Something New

by xuxitime



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, But only a tiny bit, Drabble, Friendship, How does one summary, Hurt/Comfort, Loneliness, Or Is It?, fashion student!taeyong, how does one title, photographer!jungwoo, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 17:10:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21001220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xuxitime/pseuds/xuxitime
Summary: Taeyong was accepted into his dream fashion school, but he didn't expect the loneliness that came with it.





	Iced Tea At The Start Of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone!
> 
> this is kind of a short thing, it's basically a prequel/spinoff off my luwoo social media au on twitter: https://twitter.com/xuxiitime/status/1117964061340262401?s=19
> 
> it can totally be read seperately tho!!!! its just a soft drabble about this trio's blossoming friendship
> 
> i hope you enjoy and please leave a comment to let me know what you think!!

Taeyong loved his school. He was immensely proud to even have gotten into one of the most prestigious fashion schools in the country in the first place and he loved it. He loved being creative and learning something new everyday about one of his biggest passions.

Even if it was hard work. Even if he slept too little because he had to pull allnighters all the time. Even if others didn't take his career choice seriously and mocked him for being 'spoiled'. Even if he felt like his entire existence there was a competition.

Like from the moment he walked into the building he would have classmates, rivals, stare him up and down. Take him in. Judge him. It was a weird environment to be in every single day.

Taeyong found it hard to befriend anyone there, or even just act friendly. It didn't help that he was naturally shy and really, that was the hardest part about this school. The loneliness. The constant feeling on edge around others. Feeling like he couldn't let his guard down at any moment. He always had to be the best.

But it was all worth it in the end. When he got to drape his creations around his models at the end of the year and see them walk out in front of his teachers, his classmates, his family. To watch them all gape and clap and to know that that was all his. His work. His mind. He made that.

That feeling far outweighed the stress and doubt and lack of sleep.

It even outweighed the lonely moments, eating alone, working alone, going out alone. The moments his head was full of thoughts and ideas and he so desperately wanted to spill over and just vent, but there was no one to call up.

He managed his first year like that. It was fine. He could do it. He was one of the best students in his year and he knew it. His final project had blown everyone away and he had beamed at the applause. Roaring, thundering, bellowing. It had felt so good. Weeks of hard work, of pouring his heart and soul into this, and it had all payed off.

But that night he sat alone in his dorm. His pieces gently draped over the lifeless mannequins in the corner. There was no one to celebrate with. There were no plans for the summer. There was no laughter and drinking and feelings of relief. There was only a certain emptiness filling him.

Taeyong stood up from his bed and walked toward the mannequins. He looked at the pieces he had so carefully and lovingly worked on this past semester. He had become used to the sight of them in his room, but after today they seemed misplaced. They had lost their meaning and overstayed their welcome. He swiftly ripped them from their place and threw them aside.

It was time to start something new. 

~

He had spend two weeks inside, drawing, brainstorming, coming up with and scrapping ideas. He only went outside to get himself groceries, but even then it was more likely he would just order a pizza for dinner. He spend every day in sweatpants, sometimes not even bothering to change out of his pajamas.

He pretended he wasn't lonely, wasn't bored, didn't crave noise and laughter and _people_ around him. He completely devoted himself to his work and pretended it was all he needed, but nothing good would even come out of it.

After week two he decided to try this a different way. Instead of trying to plan out every detail of his pieces before starting, he donned a sweatshirt and jeans and made his way to the arts and craft shop.

Normally he would make use of some fancier materials, but he figured he had to get out of his comfort zone. And if that meant making fashion out of styrofoam balls because it was all he had access to, so be it.

~

Taeyong strolled through the aisles, hands buried deep in the pockets of his hoodie, music blasting in his ears, drowning out any outside noises. He didn't feel like listening to whining children argue with their overexcited parents. Instead he took his sweet time examining anything and everything the store had to offer.

It wasn't much, there was a reason he didn't come here a lot, but the stuff they had was unexpected at least. Taeyong couldn't help but crack up at the weird paper mache animals and the slightly creepy blank masks. Or maybe he should get into crocheting or candlemaking based on what this place had to offer.

He smiled to himself as he walked into the next aisle, which was filled up with large sheets of paper, stamps, fountain pens and large bottles of ink.

He stopped to softly touch the different textures of the papers, when suddenly he heard someone clear his throat right behind them. Startled by the noise, he immediately turned around, but accidentally hit his elbow on a bottle on the shelf.

He watched with dread as the bottle fell, almost like in slowmotion, and smashed into a thousand pieces on the floor, the black ink flying everywhere. He couldn't move as he slowly looked up at the person now in front of him, or rather persons, one of whom stared back at him with a look full off anger and the other with his mouth hanging open, staring at something he was holding, now covered in black liquid. Taeyong squinted and then he realized what the guy was holding.

Fuck.

He barely had time to take out his headphones before chaos broke loose. Day6's "Shoot Me" was replaced with the incoherent shouting and cursing of the first guy, mixed with Taeyong's own "oh god" and "I'm so sorry".

None of it seemed to affect the third guy who had taken a tissue out of his backpack and was now desperately trying to dab the ink off of his very fancy looking, probably _very _expensive camera. Taeyong just wanted to disappear and soon enough, it seemed his wish was fulfilled.

Not even two minutes later the three of them were kicked out off the store.  
  
  


"You know you're gonna have to pay for that," the first guy glared at him, most likely trying to murder him with his eyes. He was thin, but slightly taller than Taeyong. Handsome, except for the fact that his face was covered in tiny splashes of black ink, which Taeyong decided not to comment on.

"I can't pay for that," Taeyong tried his best to not sound too indignant, but he was starting to get annoyed by this guy. Surely he had to understand that it was all just a stupid accident.

"Look, I'm really, really sorry," he had turned to the second kid now, the blond with the soft features now carrying a slight pout. He was crouched on the floor looking at the seemingly ruined camera in his hands. He still hadn't said a word.

"Well, you better start saving money then!" quipped the brown-haired kid back while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Taeyong sighed and ignored him. "I'm sorry, but it really was an accident. I can't pay for your camera." He decided not to bring up the fact that he himself had been the one to get the majority of the ink on him. His clothes were absolutely ruined and he figured the three of them must look ridiculous just standing around like this.

Finally the blond looked up at him. Big sad eyes that seemed to be on the verge of tears. "It's okay," he said in such a tiny voice that Taeyong figured it wasn't okay at all. "I think it's just the lens anyway."

"It's _not_ okay-" began the brunette, but he quickly shut up when the other send him a glance.

"I wish I could make it up to you..." mumbled Taeyong, but he knew he really didn't have the money for this kind of thing and it seemed silly to just offer them something like a coffee now.

The blond hummed absentmindedly as an answer, but suddenly his face cleared up and he looked up at Taeyong with an expression that made him kind of nervous.

"I might know something..." 

~

When Taeyong came home he immediately undressed and threw his clothes into the corner of his room. His hoodie and especially his jeans were covered in ink and honestly, Taeyong couldn't be bothered to figure out a way to get it out.

He sighed and mentally said farewell to one of his favorite hoodies. Instead he donned some tight black jeans and a loose satin blouse with a constellation pattern, leaving the upper buttons open. He put in earrings, styled his hair, which he had recently dyed silver, and even put some effort into his makeup. The whole ordeal only took him about half an hour.

Taeyong knew people admired his looks, and he knew exactly how to accentuate his strengths. When he looked into the big mirror on the back of his door afterwards, he definitely wasn't dissatisfied.

It was subtle, almost effortless, but he knew this look would impress both those guys, which was exactly what he wanted. This was his way to make it up to them, after all.

And it wasn't exactly daily that he was asked to model for someone.

~

It was easier than he had expected.

Doyoung, the short-tempered brunette, had calmed down now. Maybe his friend had sternly told him to, but it seemed genuine to Taeyong. He didn't shout at him, he didn't even send angry glances his way. He still seemed a bit weary, but not in a way that dampened the mood. He threw in sarcastic remarks every now and again, but nothing too harmful. And nothing that Jungwoo's enthusiasm couldn't fix.

Jungwoo, the blond kid with the camera, which he had gone home to replace the lens of. The only proof left of their incident were the small specks of ink on the camera's body. Jungwoo pretended like nothing ever happened. He smiled brightly and squeeked at Taeyong's poses and dragged them all over the city for the sake of good lighting and atmosphere. Taeyong definitely preferred this Jungwoo, with his sparkling eyes and soft smiles and loud unexpected laughter, over the Jungwoo with sad eyes and trembling lips at their first meeting.

At the end of the long, hot day, Doyoung offered to buy them all iced teas. Taeyong felt like he hadn't talked enough, hadn't done enough, hadn't been apologetic enough the entire day, but Jungwoo didn't seem to mind.

"You're a natural," he beamed, resulting in a soft pink blush on Taeyong's cheeks. "You should definitely model for me more often." He triumphantly scrolled through the seemingly endless stream of pictures he had taken that day.

"If he wants to..." Doyoung mumbled, but with none of the nasty undertones that he could have easily thrown into that sentence.

"Well, you have my number now," Taeyong laughed awkwardly. "I liked modeling today." He didn't know what else to say, but Jungwoo was already beaming at him, and even Doyoung send him a soft smile, the first he'd received from him the entire day.

"You can just text me." He offered, nervously.

And they did.

It was so much easier than he had expected.  
  


~  
  


Sometimes Taeyong felt like his entire identity now was his love for fashion. He didn't quite know how to feel about it. I mean, this is what he always wanted, this was his lifelong dream and he felt so, so proud for being here.

Yet he also felt like he didn't quite know who he was anymore.

In senior year he had been the artsy kid, sure. But he was also one to love parties and drinking. He was a good student, without having to try too hard. He was popular, he hooked up every now and again. Just often enough to make people feel like they had a chance, but just little enough to make people feel really special when he did.

All of those people had completely disappeared from his life. Sometimes he would see their pictures on social media. They had all moved on, made new friends, new lives, new identities. They found new people that made them feel special.

Sometimes Taeyong felt like the world had left him behind. Or like he himself had left a part of him behind. It was a strange feeling and he didn't quite now what to do with it.

Making new friends felt weird. After basically being isolated for a full year, he felt like he had to completely reinvent himself now.

At least with these two, there were no worries about a bad first impression anymore. He still felt like he had to win them over.

With Jungwoo it wasn't that hard, the kid basically fluttered around him with sparkling eyes and giggled sweetly at everything he said. At first it was unsettling to him, he felt like Jungwoo only saw him as a pretty subject for his pictures, but he soon realized this was genuinely just how he was. There were no bad intentions to be found in his actions.

Doyoung was a bit more difficult, but Taeyong could notice him smile at his comments when the other thought he wasn't looking. And he soon realized Doyoung was just as soft as Jungwoo, just a lot more bothered about hiding it.

He could see why they were such good friends. Jungwoo was able to look straight through Doyoung's act while Doyoung treated Jungwoo like a protective brother. Jungwoo would cling to Doyoung's arm and sweetly smile up at him and Doyoung would return the look with soft eyes and nervous laughter.

If Taeyong didn't know any better, he would have thought they were dating with how close they were. (Later he would learn about the way Jungwoo flirted with any guy he found slightly attractive, only to innocently claim he was just being friendly when asked about it later, and the way Doyoung would get extremely nervous and turn bright red when someone asked him on a date.)

They were so used to each other, they seemed to fit perfectly into each other's life. Reaching out where the other was lacking in a way that seemed so natural. They really were like family, Taeyong figured.

He wondered how he could ever fit into that picture.

But he stuck with them. Summer was fun with them. And he realized how much he had missed this. Just, hanging out with people, learning new things about them the more time he spend with them. Blossoming friendship. Spontaneous fun.

His heart had yearned for it for so long and he didn't want to admit how good it felt. How much it felt like a breath of fresh air after spending months pretending he wasn't drowning.

He didn't want to admit how desperate he was for this. And how scared he was to lose it, to be rejected. He treasured every moment he spent with Doyoung and Jungwoo, terrified that it would be the last.

But they stuck with him too. Somehow they kept coming back to him too. And summer felt like it would last forever.

But everything comes to an end. One day they would all go back to school and Taeyong was terrified that they would drift apart. That this summer would be like a faint dream you try to remember as soon as you wake up. That everything would go back to the way it was before, except it would be worse now, because he would know what could have been.

~

During one of his first classes, the students where told to pair up.

Taeyong couldn't even be bothered to try anymore, he knew he wasn't close enough with anyone to even ask to work together if it wasn't their very last option. He was just used to waiting for the last other person to make eyecontact with him, both politely nodding because they knew they didn't have another choice.

But that was not what happened this time. The one other kid that was left without a partner promptly ignored him.

Finally, when the teacher suggested for the two of them to pair up, he deadpanned Taeyong for a couple seconds, only to look away unimpressed.

"I don't wanna work with him." And before the teacher could respond, he continued.

"My friend is sick right now, but he'll be back soon. I'll just pair up with him."

Taeyong tried to keep his expressions in check as he turned to the teacher too, who payed him just as little attention.

"Alright then. Taeyong will still need a partner, so who would like to take him in as a third member?"

Taeyong wished he hadn't asked them. He knew no one put up their hand without having to look behind him. He could tell from the deafening silence, from the slightly flustered look on his teacher's face, from the heat rising in his own cheeks.

"I can just work by myself," he wanted to say, nonchalantly and confidently, but it came out weak, small and hoarse. He didn't dare to look any of his classmates in the eye for the rest of the day.

It was okay, he told himself, he could use the stuff he had started working on at the start of summer, the pieces he had abandoned once he met Doyoung and Jungwoo. It would only be fitting that he returned to those now. He wouldn't have to work so hard either, what with half the work already done. It would be okay.

But he was already exhausted just thinking about it.

~

He lasted two weeks of school before he broke. Two weeks.

He skipped a whole day of classes just to lay in bed crying, desperate to understand what was causing him to feel so bad, to try and find an excuse, a solution, an explanation, anything. But he didn't find it. He just felt exhausted, overwhelmed, hopeless.

He wondered if he had missed the part in their first year where people gave up on their initial fears and paranoia and started becoming friends. Or if he had been wrong about everything from the start. Were the disgusted, judgmental looks only aimed at him? Was it something he did? The way he carried himself, the look in his eyes, the shyness masked as confidence? Had he put slightly too much effort into the way he'd come across? What if they thought he was arrogant? What if they thought he was spoiled, judgmental, fake? Was there even anything left to fix?

In the end he called Jungwoo. He had stressed over it for half the day, wondering if they were even at that stage of their friendship yet, but as soon as he heard Jungwoo's voice he felt reassured.

He could hear the genuine excitement in it when he asked him to come over, the other not noticing how Taeyong had to dig every word out of himself, how much effort it took him.

Half an hour later he had Jungwoo standing in front of his door. Doyoung had joined him, which was only a given.

If they noticed the puffiness of Taeyong's eyes or the drag in his movements, they didn't mention it. Though Doyoung did frown at his choice of clothes, a pair of sweats and a t-shirt with a hole in the seam.

They watched a movie. They ordered food. Then they sat in silence on Taeyong's slightly too small couch. That was when Doyoung reached for his hand and softly squeezed it. That was when Jungwoo complained that he had missed this, the three of them, and that they should meet up more again, and that he wasn't gonna let school ruin their fun. And Doyoung chimed in here and there with his bright laugh or his witty remarks and his hand was still clinging to Taeyong's while Jungwoo filled up the silence. And he pretended like he didn't realize what they were doing. Because he was grateful.

So, so grateful for them.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


End file.
